Main:Nina Derwael
Sint-Truiden, Limburg, Belgium |Row 3 title = Years on National Team |Row 3 info = 2014-present |Row 4 title = Club |Row 4 info = TK Sta Paraat Hasselt |Row 5 title = Current status |Row 5 info = Active}} Nina Derwael (born March 26 in Sint-Truiden, Limburg) is an elite Belgian gymnast and 2016 Olympian. She is the 2018 and 2019 World uneven bars champion, 2017 and 2018 European uneven bars champion, the 2017 World uneven bars bronze medalist, the first Belgian gymnast to medal at the World Championships, and the first Belgian gymnast to become European Champion. She has also represented Belgium at the 2014 European Championships and 2015 European Youth Olympic Festival. Junior Career 2013-2014 Derwael traveled to France at the end of 2013 for the Elite Gym Massilia. She won team gold and individually placed fifth on uneven bars and balance beam and eighth in the all-around. The following year, she competed at the International Gymnix in Canada, placing eighth on uneven bars and fifteenth in the all-around. She went on to compete at a friendly meet against gymnasts from France and Romania. She won team silver and placed twentieth in the all-around. After placing fifth in the all-around at the Belgian Nationals, she was named to the Belgian team for the European Championships, helping them place sixth in the team final. She returned to the Massilia in France, winning team and all-around bronze and placing fifth on uneven bars and floor exercise, and finished the year by winning uneven bars silver, team bronze, and placing fifth on floor exercise, and fourteenth in the all-around at the Top Gym meet. 2015 Derwael claimed the all-around title in the junior division of the Belgian National Championships, as well as gold medals on unevne bars, balance beam, and floor exercise, and a silver on vault. She competed at the Flanders International Team Challenge, winning all-around gold and team silver. She was named to Belgium's team for the European Youth Olympic Festival in Tbilisi, Georgia. She won team and uneven bars silver, floor exercise bronze, and placing fourth in the all-around and fifth on balance beam. She finished off the year at the Massilia in France, winning balance beam bronze and placing fourth with her team, fifth in the all-around and floor exercise. Senior Career 2016 Derwael made her senior debut at the International Gymnix in Canada, winning team and uneven bars gold, balance beam silver, and placing seventh in the all-around. She suffered a broken hand in training, causing her to skip the Olympic Test Event in Brazil.hand injury She recovered in time to compete at the European Championships in June, but Belgium just missed qualifying to the team final and Derwael didn't qualify to the event finals. Later that month, she won uneven bars silver and placed fifth on beam and sixth in the all-around at the Dutch Open. She was named to the Belgian team for the Olympics in late June.Olympics Rio Olympics Belgium competed in the first subdivision of qualifications, starting on uneven bars, where Derwael posted an impressive 15.133. Although Belgium didn't make the team final and Derwael didn't qualify for the uneven bars final, she did qualify for the all-around in twenty-first place. In the all-around, she improved her placement by two spots, finished in nineteenth place. 2017 Derwael continued to compete after Rio, taking part in the City of Jesolo Trophy in Italy in April, placing seventh with her team and twelfth in the all-around. Later in April, she competed at the European Championships in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. After placing seventh in the all-around, she made history for Belgium by winning the European title on the uneven bars and becoming the first Belgian to be European Champion. In June, she only competed on uneven bars and balance beam at the Flanders International Team Challenge and won team bronze. In September, she competed at the Paris World Cup, winning gold on bars and placing sixth on balance beam. In October, she competed at the World Championships in Montreal, Canada. There, she made history for Belgium by achieving their highest placing in the all-around (8th), and winning the first World medal for Belgium: bronze on uneven bars. She also submitted a new element on the uneven bars: a Stalder release hecht with a half turn, which she successfully performed multiple times. Since the same element was submitted by Great Britain's Georgia-Mae Fenton, the element was named after both of them. 2018 Derwael began her season at the Stuttgart World Cup in March, winning gold with the Belgian team. Later that month, she won uneven bars gold and balance beam bronze at the Doha World Cup. In May, at the Belgian National Championships, she won her first National title. Additionally, she won uneven bars gold, balance beam and floor exercise silver, and vault bronze. She went on to compete on three events at the Thialf Summer Challenge, placing fourth with her team. She went on to compete at the European Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Although Belgium qualified third to the team final, they withdrew so they wouldn't tire out their gymnasts prior to the World Championships. Individually, Derwael defended her European title on the uneven bars and won silver on balance beam. Derwael was named to the Belgian team for the World Championships in Doha, Qatar in late October. Although Belgium didn't make the team final, Derwael excelled individually. She placed fourth in the all-around, the highest all-around placement for a Belgian gymnast at a World Championships, won gold on the uneven bars, becoming the first Belgian gymnast to become a World Champion, and placed fourth on balance beam. After Doha, Derwael won gold on uneven bars at the Cottbus World Cup in Germany in November. 2019 Derwael competed at the Doha World Cup in March, winning uneven bars gold and balance beam silver. She opted to skip the European Championships and later competed at the Flanders International Team Challenge in June, winning team gold and all-around silver. Because the competition also served as the National Championships for the senior Belgian gymnasts, Derwael placed the highest of the Belgian gymnasts, making her National Champion. She opted to just compete on bars and beam at the European Games in Belarus in late June. On bars, she suffered an uncharacteristic fall and finished fourth, but redeemed herself by winning balance beam. Derwael made the Belgian team for the World Championships in Germany. There, she helped the Belgian team place tenth in qualifications, and qualify a full team to the 2020 Olympics. Individually, she placed fifth in the all-around and defended her World title on uneven bars. She had initially qualified to the floor exercise final, but withdrew due to pain in her foot.FX EF withdrawal, foot Medal Count Floor Music 2017 - “Suvvia, Cosi Terrible” by Placido Domingo References